Catch up on recent art news headlines in the southwest region, including people on the move, grants, and more.
News
Meow Wolf Announces Third Permanent Installation in Denver
Meow Wolf Denver, the third permanent installation in the Meow Wolf family, is scheduled to open in fall 2021. More than 300 artists, including 110 Colorado-based creatives, will create a dizzying installation that spans four floors and include Wolf’s signature portals and wormholes into “new worlds.”
New DJ Screw Project to Begin Filming in Houston
Houston Press reports that ZoomTV Network, a San Antonio-based streaming service and production company, will start filming scenes for a new project about DJ Screw. The emcee who formed the Houston-based Screwed Up Click—George Floyd was a member and rapped under the name Big Floyd—is often credited with inventing chopped and screwed, a form of hip hop deejaying that slows down records into syrupy beats. DJ Screw, born Robert Earl Davis Jr. in Smithville, TX, has recently received academic and museum treatments for his invaluable contributions to American music. The University of Houston houses a special library collection of DJ Screw’s vinyl records and other materials while the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston recently examined his legacy in Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City Through Mutated Lenses. The musician died in the year 2000 at the age of 29. (Disclosure: The author of this article was a Houston Press staff writer and freelancer 2011-2018.)
New Businesses/Organizations
Pie Projects, Santa Fe
Earlier this year, Alina Boyko and Devendra Contractor launched a flexible event and gallery space that “hosts art related events to support artistic talent, allied organizations, and the collecting community.” Pie Projects, located in the Baca District of the Santa Fe Railyard at 924B Shoofly Street, will display its third exhibition, Tamarind Institute at Pie Projects, June 4-13. (Tamarind Institute is based out of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.) A public reception is scheduled to take place 5-7 pm on Saturday, June 13.
Six O Six Art Gallery, Albuquerque
The new centrally located gallery and performance space (606 Broadway Blvd SE near Coal Ave SE) debuted the first weekend of May during the Six O Six Mercado art pop-up event curated by Cosmic Panther Productions. (Disclosure: The writer of this piece volunteered for the event.) The spacious property, which includes an indoor art gallery and an outside stage, features an open-mic night hosted by Albuquerque rocker Aaron Anderson every first and third Thursday, 7-11 pm. A second Cosmic Panther mercado is scheduled 2-6 pm on Sunday, June 13.
Alchemy Studio, Madrid, NM
Alchemy Studio, a woman-owned and -operated studio/gallery in tiny Madrid (pronounced MAD-rid), debuts this weekend. The space is owned by Madrid metalsmith Lucy Barna and will also feature works by Albuquerque ceramic artist Patty Bilbro, Santa Fe oil painter Brianne Janes, and local natural-fibers textile artist Cinda Kay Campbell. An opening celebration is scheduled 4-7 pm on Saturday, June 5, at Alchemy Studio, 2859 State Hwy 14 in Madrid.
Art Vault, Santa Fe
The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation opened Art Vault, a new digital art venue in the Santa Fe Railyard, on April 30, 2021. The 3,500-square-foot space spans two floors at 540 South Guadalupe St. A press release says that the exhibition space—which showcases the foundation’s collection of digital, electronic, virtual, and new-media artworks—is the “only digital art collection open to the public in the Southwest, and one of very few in the United States.” Current hours are 10 am-5 pm Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free.
Grants and Awards
Santa Fe’s Wheelwright Museum and the City of Albuquerque Granted Monetary Awards from the National Endowment for the Arts
The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian is set to receive an arts project award in the amount of $45,000 for the upcoming Abeyta: Cañoncito Ké, an exhibition that chronicles a Navajo family of artists. The NEA also announced that the City of Albuquerque will receive an Our Town grant in the amount of $100,000 to support “Innovation Rail Trail: Revitalization and Creative Placemaking and Placeknowing Along Albuquerque’s Historic Railroad.” The project, according to a city release, “will start the transformation of a one-mile commercial area along downtown Albuquerque’s historic railroad line.”
Santa Fe Film Institute Announces Grants and Scholarships to Support Filmmaking in New Mexico
From now until late July, local filmmakers, film productions, and students can apply for SFFI funding. The SFFI writes that “eligible projects include those of any runtime, including films, scripts, and treatments that are in the development stage, in-progress, in pre-production, in production, and in post-production.” New Mexico residents may apply for up to $2,500 in grant funding, while applicants in Arizona, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Texas are eligible for up to $2,000. The grant application deadline is July 26, and scholarship applications are due by July 31. For more information, visit santafefilminstitute.org.
Leadership Changes and Appointments
Arizona Commission on the Arts Executive Director Steps Down
The Arizona Commission on the Arts is on the lookout for a new executive director following the announcement that Jaime Dempsey, who worked at the agency for fifteen years, will leave her executive director post. According to a press release, the Arts Commission’s governor-appointed board will launch a public search for the agency’s next executive director.
Contemporary Museum of Arts Houston Appoints Allison Glenn as Senior Curator and Director of Public Art
In late May, Allison Glenn was named to lead the CAMH’s curatorial and public-art initiatives. A press release says that Glenn received critical acclaim and community kudos for curating Promise, Witness, Remembrance, a current exhibition at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville that centers on Breonna Taylor. Glenn is scheduled to start her new gig on August 1.
Peter Grendle Becomes the New Cinema Director at the Center for Contemporary Arts
Earlier this week, Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe named Peter Grendle as its new cinema director. According to a press release, Grendle most recently served as the general manager of the Santa Fe location of Violet Crown. He’s leading CCA’s upcoming reopening of its cinema. The gallery space is slated to host a hybrid live-virtual version of the 2021 Currents New Media Festival, June 18-27.
